The present invention relates to a polishing element for use in a finishing/polishing apparatus. The apparatus includes an abrasive implement for gross reduction and shaping, and a polishing element for polishing. A method of using the apparatus for finishing/polishing dental appliances and restoratives is also provided.
Dental restoratives exhibit physical and chemical characteristics which make them suitable for use in filling, repairing or replacing teeth. Restorative materials should possess properties that closely match natural teeth with respect to structural properties such as cohesive strength, coefficient of thermal expansion and wearability. Also, aesthetic considerations such as color stability, refractive index, plaque repellency, polishability and opacity are important factors in determining whether a material is suitable for use as a dental restorative. Numerous organic compositions are used in various mixtures and proportions for use as dental composites or restoratives. These compositions usually include some type of resin, which may either be preblended or mixed by the practitioner in the office, together with other materials such as pigments, catalysts, handling agents and opacifiers. For restorative use, it is generally necessary to employ materials which are "filled", that is, to which have been added amounts of inorganic, or in some cases, organic particulate material.
Dental composite and restorative materials must have good forming characteristics so that they can be shaped to fit a cavity area or molded into place in order to repair chipped or damaged teeth. Furthermore, such restorative compositions must preferably be filled with inorganic materials in order to achieve satisfactory hardness and durability during service. The finishing and polishing of the composite is an important part of providing an aesthetically pleasing restorative.
Most prior art polishing discs used for finishing composite materials have a metal fastener in the center which is used for attaching the disc to a shaft adapted to be used in a hand held polisher. If the practitioner is not careful, the metal fastener could come in contact with and mar the composite material.
Prior art discs which are now used for shaping composites have a tendancy to preferentially wear away the composite material and pluck the more rigid filler particles from the composite surface during the polishing procedure. Some such prior art discs are so abrasive that they tend to flatten natural contours of the tooth and even remove natural tooth structure when finishing or polishing the restorative material. Therefore, the present art method for working restorative composites involves tedious working steps that use three or four grades of abrasive discs, rubber wheels and finally one or two different polishing pastes.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties of the prior art apparatus and methods.
It is an object of the invention to provide a polishing element including synthetic fibers for polishing dental features.
It is an object of the invention to provide a polishing element for polishing dental features including natural fibers, synthetic fibers, or a mixture thereof and having an abrasive powder impregnated in the fibers thereof.
It is an object of the invention to provide a polishing element for polishing dental features including an element with synthetic polyurethane foam having a consistency and density in the range of natural felt and suede.
It is an object of the invention to provide a lapping strip having an abrasive area with a thin, flat strip of polishing/finishing material and string-like handles, in which the abrasive area is adapted for interproximal finishing/polishing of teeth and the handles are adapted for use by the practitioner in controlling the abrasive area during finishing/polishing procedures.
It is an object of the invention to provide a finishing implement for reduction of dental appliances affixed to teeth including a substantially flat, circular working surface adapted to abrasively reduce dental appliance material, attachment opposite the working surface adapted for attaching the disc on a mandrel, the attachment having a diameter substantially less than the diameter of the working surface, and a back surface intermediate the working surface and the attachment providing a smooth transition between the attachment and the working surface.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for polishing and finishing a resin including shaping the resin using an abrasive implement having an elastomeric polymer impregnated by an abrasive of a mean particle size of about 300-0.025 microns and polishing the resin using a polishing element formed from felt, suede or other natural/synthetic fiber having a nap sufficient to hold and carry abrasive particles under medium speed rotation of the element.
Throughout this disclosure the size range of powders refers to the sizes of the longest dimensions of the particles of the powder.